One of the most boring things about being at work or running your own business is having meetings. No matter what the topic is, sitting in a meeting room for an hour or more watching a PowerPoint presentation isn't always going to be much fun. Although this is bad for your workers, it can be even worse for clients or others outside the company especially if you are trying to finalize a deal. So, how can you make your meetings more interesting and get more from them in return?
What Do You Want from the Meeting?
Before you can start to see how to make the meeting more interesting, you need to think about what you want to achieve. In most cases, meetings are there to discuss things going on within the business and make decisions on how to move the company forward. However, a meeting with a new client will be different, because you will want to show them that your company is one they can work with. Not only do you want to show them with a meeting that is full of information and statistics, but also one that is engaging and fun.
The way you start a meeting is hugely important because you want to start working with the people in the room as soon as possible. Don't start by reading out the agenda for the meeting, as this will encourage everyone to look at their own paperwork and not make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Instead, start by saying a few words about why the meeting is taking place and what you hope to achieve at the end. You can even add some stories or incidents within the office that week that might be able to break the ice and get people relaxing.
If you go straight from your introduction to a presentation on your laptop, you will quickly lose the attention of your audience. Instead of trying to rely on your presentation, try thinking of other ways to convey your information. Perhaps you can create your own meme comic to get the point across or have a quiz? By involving the rest of the people in the room, you are not only keeping them interested, you are also encouraging ideas from them. Some people don't like the idea of too much participation, especially if it involves working in teams, so all you need is to get them involved individually. It is also important that everyone knows what they need to do after the meeting has finished. Encourage them to tell everyone what they are responsible for and what they can do to deal with problems that might arise from the meeting.
Depending on what needs to be discussed, meetings are not always positive, but that doesn't mean everyone has to sit there and follow the leader. Encourage them to make suggestions and come up with solutions so you can move the meeting forward.
From the above discussion, we have quite successfully learnt that you can create your own meme comic or start off with a catchy joke for making any kind of business meeting interesting and engaging.